The Kingdom Unhindered - Acts 15:1-35

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Intro

OPENING ILLUS: Churches have a history of struggling with unity. And sadly, the issues that have caused division are not great. Thom Rainer, who used to be the president of Lifeway has written about some church “fights” that he was told about (these are legit):

Argument over the appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard

Fight over whether or not to build a children’s playground or to use the land for a cemetery

A deacon accusing another deacon of sending an anonymous letter, and deciding to settle the matter in the parking lot

A church argument and vote to decide if a clock in the worship center should be removed

A 45-minute heated argument over the type of filing cabinet to purchase: black or brown; 2, 3, or 4 drawers

A fight over which picture of Jesus to put in the foyer (you got to wonder who took the picture)

A petition to have all church staff clean shaven (Shawn…)

A dispute over whether the worship leader should have his shoes on during the service

A dispute in the church because the Lord’s Supper had cran/grape juice instead of grape juice

Business meeting arguments about whether the church should purchase a weed eater or not. It took two business meetings to resolve

Arguments over what type of green beans the church should serve (now that might be something worthy to fight over)

An argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs at the church meal

An argument over who has the authority to buy postage stamps for the church

A church member was chastised because she brought vanilla syrup to the coffee server. It looked too much like liquor.

A dispute over whether the church should allow people to wear black t-shirts, since black is the color of the devil

These stories are absolutely crazy, and any church that splits over these types of issues have lost their mission, and in general the’ve lost an understanding of the gospel.

But here in Acts 15, an issue arises that comes dangerously close to dividing the early church. The issue not over something that is ridiculous, like the previous accounts, but it is over an essential understanding of the gospel.

And if things are not worked out, then this could train-wreck the church and the movement of Christianity as whole.

This movement can only be successful if the people of the movement are unified in their understanding of the gospel and the mission of the church.

Title: The United Kingdom

Main Idea: The kingdom of God creates a united people who are centered on the gospel, love one another, and advance God’s mission

So as we walk through Acts 15 I would like us to see five characters traits, if you will, concerning unity.

Five character traits concerning how church can be unified:

Sermon

1. Unity is Threatened by False Gospels

Acts 15:1–2 ESV

1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

So right here we are getting an up close view of some events happening in the church at Antioch.

Remember what has taken place at Antioch…

This is where the Lord has chosen to launch the kingdom of God into Gentile territory.

But now there arises a problem that, from at least a human perspective, threatens the very mission of God—and that is the unity of the church.

And unity is threatened by certain individuals who have come from the Jerusalem church to Antioch, and are now telling the Gentiles that they must be circumcised if they truly want to be saved.

Real quick, a bit of a side note, this problem arises from within the church of God. Which brings me to believe that most often, the biggest threat to the church is not from outside the doors of the church…but the biggest threat comes from within.

“Many times it is not the world that threatens to derail the church but internal debates and disputes. One of the devil’s most devious and effective methods for entombing the church is to stir up dissension from within.” —Patrick Schreiner

So we have this dispute over circumcision. I’m going to assume that we all know what circumcision is, so that things don’t have to get too awkward in here.

But perhaps some of you may not understand the purpose of circumcision, and why it was such a big deal for these men from Jerusalem.

Genesis 17:9–14 ESV

9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

So, this is the very word of YHWH to Abraham, concerning the covenant that YHWH made with Abraham.

If you recall, in Gen 12 God makes a covenant, a promise, with Abraham, that he will make him a great name, and a great people, and he will give him a land, and that any who bless Abraham will be blessed, and any who curse Abraham will be cursed, and this covenant will ultimately lead to Abraham and his offspring becoming a blessing to all the families of the earth.

So, then in Gen 17, God is confirming this covenant with a particular sign—the sign of circumcision.

This sign is to set apart Abraham’s family from all the other families of the earth, and it stands as a witness that God has made these promises. And if anyone wants to become a part of this family then they too must receive the sign. And if anyone doesn’t want to receive the sign then God is removing them from the promises that he has given Abraham.

So, this is a really big deal. And we need to realize that before we just go off on these guys, and say, “how dare you add these works to the gospel.” These men think they are being obedient to God’s Word, and for that they can be commended.

But the problem resides in that they are not great at interpreting the Bible.

As we’ve seen multiple times, they are struggling to comprehend all the ways that Christ has fulfilled the OT.

2. Unity is Established by the True Gospel

Acts 15:3–12 ESV

3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” 12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

So after there had been joyful reports about the expansion of the kingdom into Gentile regions, there were some among the Jerusalem church, who were connected the party of the Pharisees, they stood up and declared that it is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles to command them to keep the law of Moses.

In summary, by saying these kinds of things, this small faction is standing up and declaring that Jesus didn’t do enough. Jesus didn’t fulfill all of the law of Moses. Jesus didn’t fulfill the law of circumcision. Jesus didn’t pay it all.

That doesn’t quite have the same ring to it does it?

“Jesus didn’t pay it all. Not all to him I owe.” That just doesn’t sing quite as well.

Now we’ve spoken about the purpose of circumcision, but I want to explain how I understand Jesus to have fulfilled this. Because even today, there are churches who do not believe that circumcision is necessary, but they understand the practice of infant baptism to be the New Covenant replacement for the act of circumcision. And I don’t think that’s right.

If the Bible started in Gen 12, with Abraham and his family, they might have an argument. But that’s not where the Bible starts.

The Bible starts with Gen 1, 2, and 3. The question that needs to be asked, in regards to the practice of circumcision, is “why is that the sign?”

Like, God, is there not another way that we could have done this? This seems a bit odd.

And it is a bit odd, unless you understand the promise of God that has come before, in Gen 3.

What is that promise? That a seed of the woman would come to crush the head of the serpent, but that in that process, he, the seed, is wounded.

That’s the promise that the entire OT is waiting to be fulfilled. “Where is the serpent-crushing king that’s been promised to bring salvation?”

Now think with me about circumcision, without getting to graphic, circumcision is the act of wounding the male reproductive organ that bears the seed of life.

So, listen, you might say that in the OT, every-time a Jewish male was born, the promise of the serpent-crushing king was supposed to be acted out. It was to serve as a reminder, a sign, to the people, of YHWH’s promise of deliverance.

Now in Acts, the serpent crushing king has come. He has defeated sin, and death, and the grave, all things that were brought about by the work of the serpent. Jesus defeated them. And he has instituted a new sign, a new covenant sign, that doesn’t occur at one’s physical birth, but it occurs at one’s spiritual birth when a person declares faith in Jesus.

Which is why Baptists do not believe in what is called paedobaptism (or infant baptism), but instead we hold to what is called credo-baptism, where baptism takes place in accordance with someone’s confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

But these Pharisees in Acts were attempting to add to the finished work of Jesus, and were declaring that these laws were not fulfilled by Christ, but rather they were necessary for one to practice.

So this, then, becomes a Gospel issue.

Which is why Peter stands up and provides his testimony of what the Lord had revealed to him when he visited Cornelius.

He says that God made a choice that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel—the good news of the finished work of Christ—and that they should believe. Not continue to do the works of the law, but simply to have faith.

And he says that just like we received the Holy Spirit, so the Gentiles, through faith in Jesus, received the Holy Spirit. Again, because their hearts were cleansed by faith.

That phrase in v. 8, where Peter says, “And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to the Gentiles.”

That language of “know the heart” is said of king David in the OT. David is said to have been a man after God’s own heart. God knew his heart. Here, that same language is applied to the Gentiles.

Thus Peter is saying that the Gentiles are just like the anointed king David. There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. That’s a rather radical statement!

And then Peter just bluntly asks them, why they are putting God to the test (that’s another thing that rebellious Israel had been prone to do). And here the test is that they are placing a yoke on the neck of Gentile disciples, expecting them to be able to keep the law.

So the law is the yoke, and these Jews are placing the yoke upon the Gentiles. But Peter is calling out their hypocrisy, because he’s saying, “Yo! Why are you telling them that they need to keep the law, when the people of Israel, throughout their entire existence, could never keep the law! You are asking them to do something that we ourselves could never do.

Only Jesus could do it. And he did it. He did it completely. And he declared that it is finished. There is no more work to do for salvation. Only through the grace of the Lord Jesus can salvation be found.

This pretty much silences the crowd. That’s what you would call a good old fashioned mic-drop. I guess back then you might call it a shofur-drop.

At that point, then, the gathered assembly began to listen to the testimony of Barnabas and Saul, and all the works that God had done on their journey.

3. Unity is Rooted in God’s Eternal Plan

Acts 15:13–18 ESV

13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’

You’ve got to love that it is James that speaks up here. This James is the brother of Jesus. This James is a brother of Jesus who once denied that his brother was the son of God, and wanted to silence him… so how does James go from thinking his older brother is crazy and wanting to lock him up, and then later declaring in his letter that he is a slave of his older brother?

How about you witness your brother being publicly executed and then three days later rise from the dead.

Alright big bro, you win!

James then points the peoples attention to Scripture. His main argument here is this: “Hey guys, read your Bibles. This was already told to us by our Prophets! Peter, or Simeon, received his vision, yes! But the word of God has already testified to these things for thousands of years. The prophets agree with what Paul and Peter are telling us.

In other words, this wasn’t God’s backup plan. God always intended to save the nations.

And so James quotes from the book of Amos to support this notion.

And in this prophecy Amos is speaking about the rebuilding of the tent of David, and that language really points to the temple.

The temple of God, in Jerusalem, fell. The people were taken in exile. But Amos speaks about a day when this tent would be rebuilt and restored.

But notice the reasoning for its rebuilding in v. 17: “that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name.”

In other words, the ultimate purpose of the temple, and the house of David was not to simply to serve and lead the people of Israel, it was to serve mankind, the nations!

Listen, the purpose that the Lord had for Israel was to be the means by which humanity might regain access to the garden.

This is why even Amos says that these things were known from of old…(EXPLAIN)

I mentioned it earlier, God covenanted with Abraham so that all the families of the earth might be blessed.

Israel was not God’s chosen people because they were more obedient than other nations…

They weren’t his people because there was something more special about them…

They were God’s people because God said through Abraham I’m going to restore my blessing in the world.

And that takes us all the way back to Genesis 1, 2 and 3, where God brings his blessing into all of creation and places the humans in the Garden of Eden to experience God’s blessing.

That’s where humanity started, and that’s where humanity is headed for.

4. Unity Produces Love for Others

James continues speaking in v 19:

Acts 15:19–29 ESV

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” 22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

This judgment that James provides here, is really a judgment that’s given out of love for both parties—the Gentiles and the Jews.

James agrees with Peter and Paul that no works of the law should be added to the Gentiles for them to keep.

But he does ask them to abstain from three things:

“things polluted by idols”

“sexual immorality”

and the understanding of the third one is abstaining from anything that is strangled and therefore still has blood in it.

There’s differing views on how to interpret these, and if you want to know all the views you can set up a meeting with me and we can discuss them, but here’s what I think is the correct view:

These three practices: things polluted by idols, sexual immorality, and things strangled that still have blood in them, were all practices that were very much associated with pagan temple cults.

James knows that as the Gentiles, who have been heavily influenced by Pagan temples, come to faith in Christ, there will be a temptation to practice things in the ways that they know—and that would be especially offensive to the Jews. James is saying don’t do that.

Now sexual immorality is kind of a universal no-no, but it was something that was employed in pagan temples all the time. So that one’s pretty easy to understand.

But there could be some gray areas with the other two… And we know this because Paul is later going to tell the Corinthian church that one has the freedom to eat food that’s been offered to idols. Why? Because God is the God of all things. There is nothing in this creation that God doesn’t declare, “that’s mine!” So there’s no food that is inherently evil. But Paul says, you need to love your weaker brother. If it causes him to stumble, then don’t do it.

That’s what I think is going on here. James is telling the Gentiles, you are not bound by the Mosaic law, but you are bound to love your Jewish brothers. The Jews are going to extend love to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles need to respond in the same manner.

So this decision is made, and an official letter is written to inform the Gentile church of the decision, and as they send the letter, they send faithful brothers to go as a loving extension of the church to communicate to and serve the church.

5. Unity Builds Up the Church

Acts 15:30–35 ESV

30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. 32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. 33 And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

Paul and Barnabas had previously been sent to the church at Antioch to teach them and build them up. And now more brothers, identified here as prophets, Judas and Silas, are sent to Antioch as an extension of the church in Jerusalem. And they go with the sole purpose of encouraging and strengthening the church at Antioch.

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of things that I love seeing about these early churches is how unified they are in wanting to encourage and strengthen each other.

On two different occasions the Jerusalem church has sent men to go and strengthen the church in Antioch. And they send some of their best men to do so.

They’ve already sent Paul and Barnabas. And now they are sending Judas and Silas. We don’t know a lot about Judas, but Silas, we’ll see next week, becomes a faithful traveling companion of Paul.

They’re going to serve jail time together!

And a few weeks ago we saw the church at Antioch sacrificially gave money to the church in Jerusalem, to brothers and sisters they had never met. They simply heard about a need, and they generously gave with no questions asked, to encourage and strengthen the work of God’s kingdom.

Let me real quickly give a plug for one of the reasons for why I am a Southern Baptist. Yes, most importantly I am doctrinally a Southern Baptist.

I believe in Believer’s Baptism. I believe in congregationalism…

But what we see here in Acts is that there is a cooperation that exists between churches to build up the kingdom.

I don’t know if everyone in our church knows this or not, but because we are Southern Baptist we are part of what is called the Cooperative Program…

So churches all across the U.S. and Canada and beyond, give to the Cooperative Program, and from this program we:

Fund missionaries through the International Mission Board…

Plant churches through the North American Mission Board…

Provide conservative theological education through our six southern baptist seminaries…

The state of Higher Christian Education… is not great. It’s moved in a completely liberal direction, and the schools are shrinking. The exceptions being our SBC seminaries. They have stayed faithful in the doctrine, and they with just a few other schools around the nation are the only theological institutions that are growing.

People from our church that have benefited from this: me and my wife… James Williams, Caleb Jernigan, Jermaine Bean, Tayden Lucero

We all received 50% off our tuition because we were members of an SBC church that gave to the Cooperative Program

So this kind of cooperation is simply a reflection of what we see here in Acts as churches give to each other to strengthen and support each other in various ways.

Application

1. Keep the Gospel Central…

Unity is found in the gospel. Listen, this is important, you cannot be unified with people who deny essential tenets of the faith.

So we have to defend right doctrine. We have to believe in the innerancy and authority of Scripture We have to hold to the deity and humanity of Christ. We have to believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone for the glory of God alone. We have to believe in the triune nature of God.

If, then, we are unified around those things, then we fight for a unity of mind within our relationships with each other. We treat others better than we treat ourselves.

Philippians 2:5-11 We seek to have the mind of Christ, who

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The call upon the Philippian church was to have such unity and love amongst each other that they were willing to die for each other.

And listen, Jesus died for rebels. I think we can be willing to look past differences of opinion or preferences (which if we’re honest are rather petty). Those who have professed faith in Christ are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we each need to treat each other as such.

2. Prioritize a Mission Focus…

If a church is focused on mission, then what are they doing?

If a church is not focused on mission, then what are they focused on?

So in summary, here’s how I’ll close: every religion says, “Do more.” Acts 15 says, “Christ has done enough…” Because Jesus fulfilled the law, bore the curse, and finished the work of salvation, Jew and gentile stand together on exactly the same ground—not by our works, but by His grace. That gospel doesn’t merely save individuals, but it also creates one united people for the glory of God and the advancement of His mission.